The end of health insurance premium reduction? The bill vetoed by Duda will return to the Sejm

The Ministry of Finance informed PAP that it is not working on a project that would maintain the reduced minimum basis for calculating health insurance contributions for entrepreneurs in 2026 and subsequent years.

The act that reduced health insurance premiums for entrepreneurs from 2026 was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda at the end of his term. This Act also assumed that in the following years there would be a reduced minimum basis for calculating health insurance contributions for entrepreneurs, introduced in 2025.

PAP asked the Ministry of Finance whether, due to the presidential veto, it planned to submit to the Sejm a new project that would lower the minimum basis for calculating the health insurance contribution so that it would apply in the following years.

The Ministry of Finance replied that in accordance with the procedure provided for in the Rules of Procedure of the Sejm, the vetoed act was referred in May for consideration by the Sejm Public Finance Committee and the Health Committee.

Therefore, work on the act has not been completed yet. With this in mind, the Ministry of Finance is not currently working on a project introducing simplified rules for settling health insurance contributions for entrepreneurs in 2026, as well as reducing the amount of health insurance contributions, especially for entrepreneurs with low and medium incomes, the Ministry of Finance noted in a response to PAP.

Constitutional scholar Ryszard Piotrowski, prof. UW told PAP that the Sejm is obliged to consider President Andrzej Duda's request to re-adopt the bill (veto – PAP), which results from the principle of cooperation between the authorities. – If such a request was submitted by the president, it should be considered in accordance with the provisions of the regulations. This consideration procedure has begun. However, there is no deadline for considering this application, said the constitutional scholar.

Piotrowski noted that this means that if there is no majority needed to re-adopt the act, the president's motion to re-adopt the act may remain at the disposal of parliamentary committees until the end of the term. – Then the legislative proceedings will be closed – he added.

The Public Finance Committee and the Health Committee do not currently plan to work on the president's request to reconsider the act that lowered the minimum health insurance premium for entrepreneurs in the following years.

The amendment to the Act on health care services financed from public funds lowered the minimum basis for the assessment of contributions paid by entrepreneurs to 75%. minimum wage in 2025. Previously, the minimum contribution was calculated on the minimum wage.

Pursuant to the Rules of Procedure of the Sejm, a bill that the President refused to sign and referred for reconsideration is referred by the Marshal of the Sejm to the committees that considered the bill before it was adopted by the Sejm. The committees present a motion to re-adopt the Act in its current wording or a motion to the contrary. The Sejm shall again adopt the act in its current wording by a 3/5 majority of votes in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of deputies. If the Sejm does not again adopt the act in its current wording, the legislative proceedings shall be closed.

Katarzyna Nocuń (PAP)

kno/mark/mhr/